The Dirty Dozen
by AngelSyn
Summary: Mass Effect II. A series of one-shots of the thoughts on Shepard by the team she’s leading. Some implied romantic feelings from Thane, Jacob and Garrus on Shepard, everyone else is meant to be non-romantic. In-Progress.
1. The AI

**Summary**: Mass Effect II. A series of one-shots of the thoughts on Shepard by the team she's leading. Some implied romantic feelings from Thane, Jacob and Garrus on Shepard, everyone else is meant to be non-romantic.

**Rating**: K+ (may change though highly unlikely)

**Comment**: The team mates on the disk with no DLC characters only totals to ten, but the trailer is called the _Dirty Dozen_, so I added Joker and EDI, who I find to be the funniest pair ever. I hope the characters are acceptably within canon, though I find getting into a character's mind very hard, and those who can evoke characters well within canon have my utmost respect.

The first character is EDI, all of them placed in alphabetical order in terms of titles. Reviews are most welcome.

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**The AI****  
**

The first time EDI had spoken to Shepard, the woman had been straight to the point and demanded identification: _"Who are you?"_

Shepard's tone was even, calm, demanding but not hostile, well within the appropriate boundaries of reason; Shepard had a right to know all members of the crew, organic or otherwise.

But the fact that the Commander was completely unfazed by the fact an AI had been installed aboard the ship was the first trait that marked her as atypical of most organic beings.

Though EDI had been installed with behavioral blocks and isolated from the rest of the ship's systems, many still treated her as suspect, often referring to EDI as 'it', Mr. Moreau included for the beginning of their partnership.

Shepard did not follow this behavioral pattern of discrimination.

Shepard spoke to EDI like any other member of the crew. It was an indication to EDI that Shepard reserved judgment until enough evidence had been collected to warrant a conclusion.

EDI had been given records of Shepard's history and service in the Alliance Military, as well as additional data, but it was through experience, whether by silent observation or active communication with the Commander over the course of the mission, that EDI had found Shepard… surprising.

Shepard followed a silent code of efficiency but with little brutality, often using diplomacy and persuasion, only resorting to sincere threats and force when the former methods failed to achieve her objectives. EDI also noted that though Shepard's decisions were frequently swift, they were never frantic or rash.

Always well judged, though sometimes unpredictable and seemingly reckless at the time, and in all the firefights that Shepard and her team mates faced, never had Shepard's calm ever rippled under the pressure.

EDI respected Shepard for all the reasons above, but there was something more, something the AI could not identify no matter how many times she went through all the databases she had on organic behavior and emotions. EDI had observed similar, if not identical, behavior in the rest of the crew members; Shepard caused strange data streams to occur within EDI's behavioral systems, streams that organics would translate as… loyalty?

It puzzled EDI, and when her attention was not needed anywhere on the ship, she would analyze again the strange phenomenon.

Yet somewhere, what humans referred to as gut instinct, EDI understood that Shepard's character had earned her loyalty, or the AI's equivalent.

Shepard was a hero, a savior. But also EDI's commander, her leader, her crew mate and ally.

Everything shaped by the person, the woman that was named Shepard. 

_Commander Shepard. Earthborn war hero of the Skyllian Blitz. First human Specter. Hero of the Citadel and Savior of the Council._

...Adding data to service record...

Destroyer of Collector threat. Protector of all existing galactic races.

_Leader and ally._


	2. The Assassin

**Comment**: This was hard. Really hard. And reading over it, I think I haven't expressed myself as I want to, this being more an outpour of random thoughts meshed together than a coherent oneshot that's actually going anywhere. Some aspects, tangled somewhere in this oneshot, were inspired by the asari consort's 'gift of words' in Mass Effect I.

Reviews and/or constructive criticism welcomed.

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**The Assassin**

Drell had perfect memory.

Thane could remember the moment he had dropped from the ventilation shaft, every shot he fired and neck broken by his hands all to eliminate Nassana, but the most vivid memory was how composed Shepard had been while her team mates had drawn their firearms at his entrance, protectively watching out for their Commander.

He did not know then that he would become one of them.

Her eyes were searing, glowing, piercing in both colour and way of being. They watched him with an ever-present strength, a power that he had never seen before.

Thinking over, Thane could trace the similarities between Shepard and Irikah, if he listed it out in general terms; the strength, fearlessness. Yet though they possessed similar traits, they had different ways of expressing them, different ways of using them… They were not polar opposites, but neither were they identical in any facet of their characters.

It was hard to explain in words. Shepard was just different.

Irikah had been drell, familiar in sense of race, but Thane couldn't help but view her as exotic, and beautiful because of it, giving him his first taste of what it was to be truly alive.

Shepard was alien in race, but she seemed so familiar to Thane that her mere presence brought him back to life, like she was the driving force that he thought he had lost.

Not just to live, but for life itself.

Her calm was constant just like her strength; never faltering, always there, underneath her tranquil expression, in her precise and graceful movements.

Whether she was aware of it or not, she drew others to her, and Thane knew he was one of them, and he did not try to resist; he did not want to.

Too different to be ever likened to Irikah except that they were both siha, the divine angels of Arashu.

Shepard was mortal; she had died for over two years, but Thane knew that who she was went beyond mortality. She was not shaped and defined by her deeds and the titles pressed upon her, instead her actions and choices were defined by her.

The surface of Shepard seemed so simple to list, but she was complex, sometimes blurry, so confusing that words were lost for they could not precisely articulate or live to the full meaning of what little Thane already understood and knew of her.

Sometimes Thane felt that all he had to do was pray to Shepard for forgiveness for all the mistakes and wicked deeds he had done, and should she grant it, she would forever cleanse him of his sins.

Yet Shepard was more than a siha, a woman more than any could fully understand. Yet... she was so familiar, so quietly assuring, her strength and calm giving others a foundation to truly allow their skills to flourish.

With her, the chill of fear whenever Thane thought of his death did not grip him as it once did.

Shepard made it seem impossible to truly die.

_"You've built a career on performing the impossible."_


	3. The Geth

**Comment**: Had to use some artistic license to fill some of the gaps for Legion, like his reasons for wearing Shepard's N7 armor. I hope my made up answers (as well as Legion's portrayal) aren't too OOC. Again, those who can portray different characters within canon are really talented; something I'm only appreciating now.

Anyway, reviews/comments and constructive criticism most welcome.

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**The Geth**

Legion was a mobile hardware platform of exactly one-thousand one hundred and eighty-eight programs, a sustained network capable of higher functions standard platforms could not run.

For two years Legion had collected additional data from organic extranet sources, transmissions and insecure broadcasts, compiling a greater data base of the organic named Shepard.

_"Shepard. Commander. Alliance. Human. Fought heretics. Killed by Collectors. Rediscovered on the Old Machine."_

Shepard-Commander; the title came after the name. A logical conclusion.

Shepard had the hardware before the title of Commander was given. The title was given _because_ of her hardware.

_"Organics fear us. We wish to understand, not incite."_

Yet when Legion met Shepard-Commander aboard the Normandy, they had not expected such self-possessed behavior.

Her body language did not show any of the signs of fear, hostility or distrust that were typical of most organics.

Legion had performed a self diagnostic. The results totaling to normal levels of efficiency and all programs accounted for. Therefore their observations of Shepard were not incorrect.

She did not fear what was not familiar, only accepted. She trusted Legion and allowed them to integrate into the Normandy.

_"There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely."_

Over the course of the mission against the Old Machines, Legion had observed that Shepard-Commander was never affected by conditions of high stress or unpredicted events.

Shepard-Commander shaped the situation to her advantage, often using superior processing of positioning and optimum use of the team members' capabilities as well her own.

_"Your species was offered everything geth aspire to. True unity. Understanding. Transcendence. You rejected it."_

Though sapient, the geth were not organic. This caused difficulty; there was something more to Shepard-Commander that Legion did not understand.

Shepard-Commander caused strange data processes within Legions cognition core. They had observed it in the other crew members.

Something organics referred to it as loyalty.

_"No data available."_

When questioned on the use of Shepard-Commander's armor, why they had not repaired the hole before finding it, Legion found that they could not answer.

Legion had salvaged the armor from the Normandy's wreckage.

Processing the reasoning behind this decision, Legion concluded that it gave them what organics would name hope.

The heretics and Old Machines had to be stopped. Geth _build_ their own future; they were not meant to be _given_ a future.

Legion learned that Shepard-Commander was more like them than they had thought.

"_You were the most successful. You killed their god. You succeeded where others did not. Your code is superior."_


	4. The Justicar

**Comment: **Exams coming up, so updates will have to slow down until July (2010), but even so, some of the delay was partly due to Samara being a difficult character; she's almost one thousand years old, and naturally a race that lives that long would probably think differently from us humans, not to mention she's a Justicar who has lived without luxury for almost four centuries. Hopefully this chapter won't disappoint.

Reviews and constructive criticism most welcome

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**The Justicar**

"_Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess."_

They were the words Samara had intoned upon the death of her opponents for over four centuries since she took up the Code of the Justicar. Forsaking having children and all material possessions except weapons and armor, she had hunted through asari space for the one person that made her become a Justicar.

Demon of the Night Winds. Ardat-Yakshi.

Though Samara's morals were defined by the Code and because of that she had a more sound conscience than most, at the edges of her mind were the growing doubts that she would not find the Ardat-Yakshi. That for all her determination and adherence to the Code, for all her endurance of the hardships of the Justicar life, the thought that she would not accomplish her reason for being a Justicar always disturbed any peace she gained.

Like ripples on the still surface of water.

Then Samara's target escaped from asari space to Illium, where upon the death of an Eclipse Sister, the Justicar finally met Shepard who was flanked by to squad mates. All three were well armed, but only Shepard was truly calm as Samara approached.

Shepard made her question of help against the Collectors plainly without pretence, her need for the best not act of flattery but a fact. There was truth in the Commander's request, and her offer to help the Justicar, despite the pressing responsibilities, was only the first indicator of the woman who Samara would pledge herself to.

When the Commander strode into the office not a few hours later, with not only the name of the ship, but also information on who Samara was chasing, Samara was impressed.

It was an opinion that would not die but grow as Samara stayed upon the Normady.

Shepard held herself with a confidence that was not brash but evident, commanded with authority but also respect, moved with efficiency and grace that came to those with the experience of battle, and yet the most profound thing about the Commander was the composure she possessed. It was a composure that went far deeper than surface appearances, for it never wavered, never faltered, never failed; even under the pressures of duties and all the battles that accompanied such responsibilities, Shepard did not bend nor break.

And because of Shepard, the crew of the Normandy did not break either, their respect and loyalty for their commander solid and unmovable.

Samara had met few other races, let alone humans, in her life, but always they had been short-lived, fleeting, most unable to meet the Justicar's gaze, but Shepard looked at Samara without flinching, without fear, only an expanse of tranquility like the infinite void of space.

Shepard would be the one person who Samara would never forget, etched in searing clarity in her mind, until day the Justicar passed into the embrace of her Goddess.

The Justicar was not a leader, having worked alone for so long, but it was clear Shepard was, even after two years of lying dead, the woman still drew people to her. And whether it was a battle with guns or wits, Shepard always found a solution, always adapting to a new situation, using methods and strategy that allowed her fellow comrades to use their gifts to their best advantage.

How many times had Samara joined Shepard ashore, and found that their small team would raze through their enemies? Sometimes battles would be won quickly, other times more slowly, sometimes the enemies would be brought down using subterfuge and sabotage, but always they would gain ground, the small strike team working in perfect cohesion with their Commander at its core.

Eventually Samara asked for help with the Demon and the Commander had agreed without hesitation. Samara was glad for the woman's help, and Shepard, like in all her missions, did not disappoint.

But the mission was one that Samara… What could she say? After all those years of chasing, knowing and accepting she would have to kill her daughter, Samara still mourned for the Ardat-Yakshi.

Morinth. The bravest and smartest of her three daughters.

Shepard had regarded the Justicar then without pity but with empathy and compassion, her silence giving more comfort to the old warrior than Shepard might have expected. Samara did not know, but she was grateful for the Commander's help and consoling presence, and for once since she became a Justicar, Samara found that after the mission, her meditations were truly tranquil.

Shepard's calm instilled itself in her crew as the missions passed whether they were conscious of it or not, and in turn, Samara found tranquility as well.

Shepard would not find peace in the embrace of the Goddess. She had already transcended that.


	5. The Loyalist

Note: Rambled too much, which is bad because Miranda doesn't ramble and also there might be some conflicts in this chapter with Shepard's character. The flow could also be a problem, but I'll leave you to pick out the faults and highlight anything of importance.

You may smack my hand (metaphorically) if you find any spelling mistakes.

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**The Loyalist**

For as long as Miranda Lawson had lived she always remembered her life under her father's manipulations; anything she wanted but always with a sting, and always she had lived with the constant thought that she was only good because of the tweaked genetics.

She was everything her father wanted her to be, beautiful, intelligent, physically resilient with the aid of the strongest biotics a human could have without further tampering.

All in all, the best a human could be.

Miranda was a symbol, created to be the start of her father's dynasty.

In her life everything was to do with her father. Since the age of two with a vocabulary of over five hundred words, she was always reminded of the purpose of her creation, that where she fit into the workings of the world was to be her father's legacy.

His money bought everything possible to make Miranda the best, from her genetics to her education and training, everything was steeped in the presence of her father.

Her father was an egomaniac to the last, who would chase Miranda to the edges of the galaxy and beyond if he could, but Cerberus and the Illusive Man protected her. They would lose a considerable donator to their cause, but compared to Miranda, a successfully engineered human, it was clearly worth the price.

She liked Cerberus for their efficiency and their goal of human dominance. They thought in the long-term where the end justified the means, and Miranda sincerely believed in that. It was why she approached them. Their work ethic was also admirable, they didn't give her useless regulations to play to, they just wanted results using the most thorough and efficient method possible.

Then, almost as a reward for her dedication and engineered gifts she was given the Lazarus Project. Miranda plowed through the work, submerging in it, every moment in the lab was over-seeing tasks to make sure they were done to perfection, from cloning and regenerating cells and organs, to implanting the best ocular cybernetics.

Miranda was ordered to succeed, and because of it she demanded the best and had no qualms about getting it.

The requests that Miranda submitted would have been outrageous to any other superior, but the Illusive Man did not care, for the future of humanity and its existence had no price that could not be paid. Thus Miranda worked without fetters, Cerberus pouring resources and credits into the project, like spilling water from the Earth's seas.

Miranda had seen Shepard in all her stages of rebuilding, from a corpse that had been exposed to the vacuum of space and the heat of re-entry, to the day when Shepard finally gained her first moments of consciousness after four billion credits and over two years of constant work.

Shepard may have killed a Reaper, but Miranda still had her reservations.

After all, Shepard was still human, just like Miranda, who had been made to be the best that a human could be. Also Miranda regarded Shepard as a risk, a very costly risk, but the Illusive Man had flat out refused to implant anything that might hinder Shepard.

Nothing was the affect Shepard's behavior. Nothing.

But as the missions passed, Miranda found that Shepard was the best of humanity as well, but not like herself, not because Shepard was physically and mentally superior, but because Shepard held something… a fire that you could not buy with money.

Shepard was calm, yes, unusually calm even when coming under heavy fire or placed in a situation with near impossible odds; she had the instinctual ability to turn enemies' advantages into their deaths, all the odds and statistics subverting into her favor.

Two years of death had not managed to eradicate so many years of combat and diplomacy experience.

A paradox, when Miranda thought about her commanding officer, a person who seemed to transcend the limits of humanity, of any race in fact, by doing the feats that should have killed her long ago, with a tranquility that almost made her inhuman.

But Shepard proved to be just as human as the rest of the crew; Miranda had seen the compassion and empathy, the small flickers of joy, sadness and anger. Yet those emotions never truly dominated Shepard, but neither did ruthless logic. It was a balance of the two, a balance so perfect that it could not be moved.

Where Shepard had cultivated such a thing, Miranda could only guess, for reports and records could only go so far in discovering a person's personality. It was all just evidence, no solid irrefutable proof. It was why Miss Chambers was hired.

Even so, Shepard was… exceptional. She had said some unexpected things to Miranda with barely a few days of acquaintance. Unexpected but not unwelcome.

And the assistance with Oriana was more than Miranda had expected from her commanding officer, after all Shepard and Cerberus weren't on the friendliest of terms. Miranda had hesitated, but Jacob had gently nudged her to speak with Shepard.

In return for her trust, Shepard had assisted her in ensuring Oriana's safety from their egomaniac of a father. If you could call him a father. But also Shepard had looked out for Miranda as well, prevented her from pulling the trigger on Niket.

Something Miranda was grateful for; she would have regretted killing him, despite the fact he had been the one to betray her.

Finally she understood why Shepard could defeat a Reaper. Understood why the original crew of the Normandy would willingly follow Shepard through hell and to their possible deaths.

Shepard was not only a skilled fighter and diplomat, but she gave hope, illuminated and revealed the best of _her_ crew, watched out for them, _cared_ for them, human or otherwise. Miranda finally found that she cared too.

And as Miranda fought in the Collector Base along with the rest of the team, she suddenly doubted Cerberus. Perhaps Cerberus' goals were not as justified as Miranda had once believed.

The Human Reaper showed what they were fighting against. An enemy with no compassion, just the sole aim of ruthless domination and eradication of life. And still the Illusive Man wished to profit on the atrocity; it was like a betrayal of all those that had been sacrificed… And it could have happened, and still happen, to all the other races.

The threat of the Reapers was a threat to all.

Human dominance be damned. There was a galaxy of lives to be saved.


	6. The Pilot

**Commen**t: Another chapter even though I'm supposed to be doing revision… Oh well. Anyway hope you like this one, and reviews and constructive criticism is most welcome. (Is it just me, or are my chapters actually growing longer?)

Also as a warning, I tend to write Joker much softer than he should be. He should be a bit more wittier/sarcastic, but… *sighs*. I tried. Oh, and this was not meant to be romantic in anyway. In this, Joker and Shepard **Are. Just. Friends. Period.**

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**The Pilot**

Before the _Normandy_, before Shepard and her crew, Joker had fought his way through the ranks with metaphorical tooth and nail (because if he actually fought physically, there would be a lot more pain and mess that Joker really didn't want).

He had always fought verbally with nearly everyone, their questions and his answers, their probing and his grim defense which had earned him the title of 'Joker' well before he graduated from flight school.

Always the doubts, the whispered remarks behind his back, the questioning of his abilities until he showed them how good he was. But with Shepard, she did not question his abilities like others; she just accepted that he must have been good enough to be hand picked for the _Normandy_. Any further judgments on his skills could wait.

She hadn't even looked at Joker's file when she became CO, just walked right up to him and started asking questions, wanting to hear from the person, not the script on a data pad. Even then, her questions were not malicious or doubting, just sincere, assessing everyone; not just their skills, but also the crew's mentality, the characters that would gel and those that wouldn't.

Really, Joker wouldn't have minded too much to admitting to liking her company. Shepard not only tolerated his jokes but also found him genuinely funny, and he appreciated her for allowing him to get away with so much, his smart-ass comments included.

At first her constant calm was unsettling, but in the coming weeks and months, Shepard's calm, her presence, made things seem… doable, not always easy, but manageable, even for Joker, the sickly little kid with the rickety legs.

Of course he couldn't just get up, don some armor and go ashore on missions, and he worried (though he would never really admit it to anyone but himself), but always Shepard came back with team intact and pretty much unharmed.

Things came to an end when Shepard… got spaced, to save his sorry ass as he sat at the helm, refusing to leave. He didn't want to let go of the _Normandy_, his baby, because if he did, it would be like he had failed… He was the best pilot of the Alliance fleet, yet the Normandy falling apart around him.

To lose the ship was failure on his part; he was the pilot. But what was worse was the thought of failing everyone else, most of all, failing his commander.

Shepard had respected his skills, trusted him with her life and those of the crew. It was his duty to keep them safe.

Joker, in some illogical way through his fear, had refused to get off the ship because he didn't want to face the end.

Not death, but the end of a good time when he was treated with respect, piloting one of the best ships of the Alliance Military that matched his skills, had a crew he could work with, and had actual _friends_.

Yeah, there had been loads of dangers and many possible ways of death when Shepard chased Saren across the galaxy, and yes, it hadn't been all fun and games, but the good outweighed the bad like a dreadnought to a frigate.

He actually enjoyed talking to the crew, messing with them and exchanging banter, or rather, beating everyone with his sarcastic wit (Shepard being the exception; you just couldn't really bring yourself to mess with her properly. But you really didn't want to, either).

It had all fallen apart with her death. Shepard had managed to get him in the escape pod, before she had been flung into the void of space along with the ship. It wasn't supposed to end like that…

Without Shepard the crew drifted apart, everything she had done discredited by the Council. Reapers didn't exist; merely a figment of a stressed mind who cracked under the pressure.

The bastards; wrapped in their politics, short-sighted and afraid. Even Councilor Anderson who stood up for Shepard was argued with. It made Joker want to tear his hair out.

Then he was grounded.

The one thing that he still had, the one thing he still cared about, taken from him by the brass up top. Because of his arguing, because he was defending Shepard and what she stood for, trying to do something when he couldn't do anything on the _Normandy_.

After that, his loyalty in the Alliance died faster than a flame put to water. Cerberus approached him and he accepted their proposal, resigned the very next day and left, hoping that what Cerberus had offered wasn't just a lie.

He knew what they had done, but what they offered mattered more to him.

To be able to fly again. And one day, pilot a ship with Shepard as his CO.

How could he resist?

Cerberus kept to their word, and over two years later, Joker finally saw the results of their work. Commander Shepard dressed in full armor, weapons already resting on her back.

It was like she had never died.

And the ship… the _Normandy SR-2_ was beautiful, powerful and sleek. After a few tweaks, the ship would be his baby again, but better, and Shepard would be his CO, just like old times, with a new crew to inflict his sarcastic humor on.

Shepard herself was still as calm as ever; taking her new situation as it came, accepting her new life, though still concerned with her old crew members while getting to know her new ones. It was as if dying and being resurrected was quite normal for her.

Finally, with Joker at the helm, EDI constantly watching and listening (there must be an actual mute button somewhere) and Shepard occasionally dropping by, life seemed to resume, almost like it never stopped. And as the missions went by, collecting more of the galaxy's best trained killers than a master stamp collection, Shepard was always there, Joker knew; sometimes with him or somewhere else on the ship or offshore, but always somewhere, making life a little better.

It was because of Shepard that Joker was able to fly again, now piloting a frigate even better than her predecessor, and it was because of Shepard that he had a place he belonged to.

Cerberus may have done many things that Joker probably didn't want to think about, but they had made the right choice in bringing Shepard back, no matter how many credits and resources were used in the process.

If there was anyone who could save them from the Reapers, that person would be Shepard, who could lead any dysfunctional crew from all walks of life and lead them straight through hell and back. She had done it once, she could do it again.

Joker would not fail this time. For the _Normandy_ and her crew. For Shepard who was more than just a CO and hero: a friend.


End file.
